Iraq Requests More US Troops Ahead of Mosul Battle

Iraq has asked Washington to send additional trainers and advisers ahead of the battle to retake second city Mosul from the Islamic State group, the premier’s office said Wednesday.

IS seized Mosul along with swathes of other territory in June 2014, but the country’s forces have since regained significant ground from the jihadists and are reading for a drive to retake Iraq’s second city.

Iraq has requested “a final increase in the number of American trainers and advisers… to support the heroic Iraqi security forces in their impending battle to liberate Mosul,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office said in a statement. […]